The House Oversight Committee will call in the FCC for a hearing related to the committee’s investigation into White House visits by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, said committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. At a book party Wednesday for CEA President Gary Shapiro, Issa told us that the committee would first have a “proper discussion” before moving forward with the hearing. In a letter last month, Issa alleged that Genachowski made 81 visits to the White House between January 2009 and November 2010, timed near events in the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking.
The a la carte debate may have foreshadowed major changes in pay-TV companies’ future, Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., of the House Communications Subcommittee said Wednesday at an American Cable Association conference. He predicted that the market will move to allow viewers to create playlists of TV shows on many devices. “That ought to scare the heck out of you,” Walden said. “Ultimately, consumers and market forces play out, and that could be brutal to industries along the way.”
Some rural telcos are worried that cuts to the Rural Utilities Service budget in the fiscal 2011 continuing resolution could upset rural broadband investment. But other groups are breathing a sigh of relief that the budget deal, up for a House vote Thursday, dropped a proposal to prohibit the FCC from acting on its net neutrality order. The resolution would fund the government through September.
Legislation to authorize voluntary incentive auctions could include provisions to spur investment by broadcasters, Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said Tuesday at a House Communications Subcommittee spectrum hearing. Most members appeared to support incentive auctions. But Walden and others said they are still considering how best to use the 700 MHz D-block to build a national public safety network.
The House issued a sharp rebuke to FCC net neutrality rules, passing a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act Friday afternoon. As expected, the 240-179 vote split the parties. Six Democrats voted for HJ Res 37, and two Republicans voted against it. While the bill passed the House with relative ease, the road ahead looks difficult. The resolution next moves to the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the Obama administration has threatened to veto if it gets any further. The House failed to demonstrate Friday that the body has a two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders have different measures of success for the floor vote on the joint resolution to disapprove FCC net neutrality rules under the Congressional Review Act. House Republicans are expected to pass the resolution with few Democratic votes, but Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., separately claimed early victories on Thursday. The floor vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was postponed until Friday due to budget negotiations. The House will meet at 10 a.m. and begin legislative business at noon, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Thursday.
With a House vote on net neutrality rule disapproval expected Thursday, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is “anxious to move forward” with the resolution of disapproval in the Senate, her spokeswoman told us Wednesday in an email. Hutchison has “been working with the parliamentarian to discuss timing,” the spokeswoman said. “All options are on the table for bringing this up in the Senate.” Hutchison had introduced a resolution of disapproval, but it hasn’t moved out of the Commerce Committee. If the House passes HJ Res 37, that resolution would move straight to the entire Senate for consideration. The Senate may also discharge the Hutchison version from the Commerce Committee with the signatures of 30 senators. The House voted 241-178 Tuesday (CD April 6 p1) to approve a rule allowing for consideration of HJ Res 37. While the House is expected to vote final passage Thursday, the resolution could face a difficult road in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House on Monday signaled it would veto the measure if passed. To overturn a veto, supporters of the resolution would need to find 49 more votes in the House, and gather 67 votes total in the Senate.
The House Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bill to speed delivery of returned broadband stimulus funds to the U.S. Treasury. The committee passed HR-1343 in a voice vote late Tuesday, and it now moves to the House floor. The bill was formally introduced before the markup by Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H. It’s the same as the draft approved last week by the Communications Subcommittee (CD April 4 p3). Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the bill didn’t represent “major changes” from existing policies, but “they are wise because of the large sums of money we are talking about, and because while most of the money remains to be spent, we are already seeing some funds returned or reclaimed.” Bass called the bill a “good piece of insurance” to make sure the broadband programs are successful. Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., voted for the bill, after saying it wasn’t necessary because existing law already requires NTIA and the Rural Utility Service to send de-obligated funds back to the Treasury. “Effective oversight of federal spending should never be partisan,” Waxman said. Several Democrats thanked Republicans for working with them to improve the bill. NTIA and RUS have said the bill is consistent with current operations at the agencies. No similar bill exists in the Senate.
A dismal budget climate shouldn’t preclude support for broadband in tribal lands, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday. Inouye, the Appropriations Committee’s chairman, signaled that he would support increased FCC funding for that purpose. Advocates for Native American communities sought additional broadband funding, including through the Universal Service Fund and a new Native Nations Broadband Fund.
Over Democratic objections, the House Rules Committee was expected to approve for a floor vote the resolution of disapproval to overturn the FCC net neutrality order. The committee vote, which was set to occur after our deadline late Monday, sets up a floor vote by the full House later this week. President Barack Obama’s administration “strongly opposes” House Joint Resolution 37, “which would undermine a fundamental part of the Nation’s Internet and innovation strategy -- an enforceable and effective policy for keeping the Internet free and open,” the Office of Management and Budget said. The net neutrality order “resulted from a process that brought together parties on all sides of this issue -- from consumer groups to technology companies to broadband providers -- to enable their voices to be heard,” OMB said in a written statement Monday evening. It “reflected a constructive effort to build a consensus around what safeguards and protections were reasonable and necessary to ensure that the Internet continues to attract investment and to spur innovation” and disapproving it would “raise questions as to whether innovation on the Internet will be allowed to flourish, consumers will be protected from abuses, and the democratic spirit of the Internet will remain intact,” the office said. For the first time, the administration confirmed publicly that Obama’s aides would recommend he veto the resolution of disapproval, if it came to his desk to be signed. Rules Committee Democrats think the Congressional Review Act measure is a “total waste of time,” said a spokesman for Ranking Member Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. “Instead of working with [Democrats] to focus on legislation to create jobs and promote economic recovery, [Republicans] are continuing to pursue politically motivated distractions that have no chance of becoming law,” the spokesman said in a written statement. “Even if they succeed at pushing this bill which allows for zero minority input through the House, it has long odds in the Senate and the administration is sure to veto it. The Courts are reviewing the legal questions around the Open Internet Order and will decide the matter, not this time-wasting effort against openness and transparency on the Internet.”